Holding on tightly to you
by Merc-for-Hire
Summary: Ranma's curse has always been one of the stranger aspects of his life. Now the curse is getting a whole lot stranger, with a life of it's own. Ranma meet Ranko... (mini-series)


DISCLAIMER: This story is fanfiction. The characters   
and setting do not belong to me and are borrowed from   
the anime/manga series, Ranma 1/2, which was created   
by Rumiko Takahashi.   
  
To contact me, email me at: mercforhire@ranmamail.com  
  
  
  
Holding on tightly to you   
-------------------------------  
by Merc-for-Hire   
  
  
  
(Prologue: It Figures...)   
  
Like most days, Ranma walked along the fence on the   
way back from school. Unlike most days, he walked   
home alone. He was glad Akane wasn't coming home with   
him today. She'd been in a rather bad mood lately.   
Something about that time of month Kasumi kept   
warning him about. Ranma shrugged off that thought.   
Akane was staying late for some play she'd been   
selected for and he was going to enjoy the moment of   
non-malleting. It looked like a good day for once.   
Those were very rare since the failed wedding so he   
was going to try to enjoy the day. He began to   
whistle a happy tune he'd heard from Kasumi as he   
closed his eyes and began to run on the fence. His   
face soaked up the feel of the wind flowing against   
him.  
  
'Nothing like the feel of the wind to forget one's   
worries.' He thought.  
  
Unfortunately, being who he was, peaceful moments   
were short and far in between. Case in point...  
  
"RANMA! PREPARE TO DIE!!!!" shouted the incoming   
missile known as Ryouga Hibiki, the eternally lost   
boy.   
  
Ranma sighed and shook his head as he ceased his run.   
He then smirked when Ryouga was about to land on him.   
Ranma opened his eyes and then moved his feet just   
enough to change his angle in the fence to slide off.   
He landed on his arm and then flipped upright before   
smiling at Ryouga. Ryouga's eyes widened in fear as   
Ranma acted. Without Ranma on the fence to take the   
force of his landing, he'd bounce off or break the   
chain-linked fence and land on the canal below. He   
dropped his umbrella to the ground and stretched out   
his arms in front of him, grabbing on to the fence   
tightly as he hit it and was flipped over the side,   
his hands still tightly holding on.  
  
"Gah!" Ryouga yelped as the fence shook and bent   
under his weight. He prayed his thanks to the gods   
when the fence held.  
  
Ranma smirked. 'Might as well have some fun with   
Ryouga if he's gonna go and bother me...'  
  
"Close call, huh p-chan? Why you almost got all wet.   
Oh wait you're already all wet, you drip," Ranma   
taunted at Ryouga. It always was a more interesting   
match when he annoyed Ryouga. Besides the fact that   
he enjoyed pissing off one of his main antagonists,   
Ryouga got both stronger and a little berserk after   
being taunted. Though that made the lost boy somewhat   
sloppy, it also made him unpredictable.   
  
"DON'T call me P-CHAN!!!" Ryouga raged as he flipped   
over the fence and back to solid ground. "You are   
such a bastard Ranma. Akane doesn't deserve you. I'm   
here to prove that." Ryouga cracked his knuckles as   
he stomped towards Ranma. Small craters grew under   
his feet as his aura sprung out.  
  
Ranma blinked. It looked like he might get a really   
interesting battle after all. He got into a fighting   
stance and motioned Ryouga to start. Ryouga rushed   
in, his hand stretched forward as he attempted to hit   
Ranma.  
  
For once the battle took an amount of time Ranma had   
only used when fighting against heavyweights like   
Herb or Saffron. Move after move followed as Ranma   
started to smile at the challenge he was getting from   
Ryouga. He was nowhere near Herb or Saffron's level,   
but enough that he didn't have to play with him quite   
like any of the times that Ryouga hadn't shown up   
with one of his "unbeatable techniques". The smile   
only further infuriated Ryouga. As Ryouga unleashed   
attack after attack though, Ranma became bored and   
decided he was hungry and that this was taking too   
much time. Ranma began spiraling as Ryouga kept   
following, his berserk nature preventing him from   
remembering the danger. Once they reached the center   
Ranma unleashed a Hiryuu Shoten Ha that blasted   
Ryouga out of the city.  
  
Ranma brushed off some dirt on his face and shirt and   
smiled. "You never learn do ya pig-boy?"  
  
Ranma turned around to face a fuming Akane. 'Where'd   
she come from?'  
  
He stared at the mallet in her hand and thought, 'Oh   
No... And it was such a nice day.'  
  
Ranma braced himself to better take the hit that   
would follow as Akane swung the mallet 'o doom and   
shouted, "How DARE you hurt poor Ryouga! You should   
learn to be a gentleman like him you baka!"  
  
A scrunching and ripping noise followed as the mallet   
made contact with Ranma's chin. Ranma soon followed   
Ryouga's trajectory out of the city as Akane   
continued her temper rage.  
  
"Yooooouuuuu...uncuteeeeee...tomboyyyyyy!!!" Ranma   
yelled as usual as he flew off.  
  
Akane huffed and stopped staring at Ranma. She began   
to put her mallet away when she noticed something   
strange in front of her. A fuming Ranma-chan.  
  
'What the...??? Didn't I just hit the baka away?'  
  
As Akane brought the mallet back out to hit the   
pervert for fooling her, Ranma-chan spoke, "You HURT   
Ranma-san AND you BROKE_US_APART!!! UNFORGIVABLE!!!!"  
  
With those words, Ranma-chan dodged the incoming   
mallet and shouted, "KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!!!"   
as she proceeded to smack Akane around until she   
crumpled in a heap in the ground.  
  
Ranma-chan then looked towards the direction Ranma   
had flown off in as little hearts appeared in her   
eyes. She began skipping in that direction as she   
sang, "Soon we'll be together again my love..."  
  
Akane just laid in a heap mumbling, "One little   
P-chan, Two little P-chans, Three little P-chans..."  
*****************************************************  
  
'Damn You Ranma! This is all your fault!' That was   
all that was on Hibiki's mind as he dropped from the   
air... right onto a stream of water.  
  
"BWEEE!!!" P-chan cried out as he struggled out of   
the current with his little legs.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......"   
  
P-chan had just gotten out of the stream as he heard   
the noise. He looked up to see what that noise was   
and a smile formed in his face as he saw Ranma   
splashing into the water. 'Akane-san must have seen   
Ranma and hit the jerk to make him pay for his evils   
like he deserves.'  
  
P-chan's smile disappeared when Ranma came up for   
air. A Ranma that was male.  
  
Ranma stared at himself and blinked. He then   
proceeded to whoop and yell in the stream as he   
continually splashed himself. P-chan just fumed as he   
watched the lucky bastard. "I'M CURED! CURED!!! NO   
MORE CURSE!!!!!"  
  
He might not have wanted to make so much noise if   
he'd known the consequences...  
  
"RANMA-SAN!!!" a voice shouted out of the foliage of   
the forest surrounding Ranma and Ryouga.  
  
Both of the rivals blinked as they looked for the   
source of the voice as well as trying to remember   
why it sounded so familiar. They were both surprised   
when Ranma-chan skipped out of the shrubbery and   
proceeded to jump towards Ranma, her arms stretched   
out in glomp-mode.  
  
Ranma blinked, "Ranko????"  
  
His surprise prevented him from preparing for the   
glomp. Not that it would have done any good. As soon   
as Ranko's arms began to loop around the surprised   
martial artist she dissolved. Scant seconds later   
Ranma's shape quivered and morphed into his female   
identity. Ranma once again blinked.  
  
She looked down at the water to see a smiling Ranko   
waving at her in the reflection.  
  
"It figures..." She muttered before smiling weakly   
back at Ranko. 'I always attract the strange ones.  
Nice smile though...'  
  
-End Prologue-  
  



End file.
